This invention relates to a rig for a sail-carrying boat, the rig comprising a mast, a sail comprising a bead-shaped luff mounted in a luff track so as to be axially displaceable relative to the mast, and a rotatable boom secured to the mast by a pivotable joint and comprising means for securing the sail to the boom and means for rotating the boom so as to reef the sail.
A serious drawback of a rib of the above-mentioned type is that in reefing a sail comprising a conventional luff, the latter tends to be wound around the boom in the joint zone and the desired freedom of movement of the boom is reduced.
An attempt has been made to overcome this difficulty by providing a bolt rope tunnel extending from the top of the mast towards a point on the boom which is spaced from the mast and is located outside the joint zone, the bolt rope tunnel for the luff being connected with the mast by means of a connecting member, cf. European patent publication No. 0 011 582 A1.
During reefing, only that part of the sail which is located rearwardly of the connecting member is rolled on the boom and the luff is wound in a screw line along the boom.
The use of such a connecting member creates a new problem because the connecting member has to be reefed separately from the deck and consequently a reefing from the cockpit of the boat is impossible. Furthermore, by winding the luff on the boom in a screw line from the front end towards the rear end of the boom the center of the sail is displaced rearwardly, thus disturbing the setting of the sail.